'Crayma,' 'Tee Tee' and other unique Carroll grandparent names

Instead of grandmom and grandpops, these Carroll families have Tee Tees, Craymas and Daddy Rays.

Growing up, Jenn Harmon, of Hampstead, always knew her grandmother Zondra Klaus as Ob — pronounced Obie — but never knew why. It wasn't until she was old enough to ask why her grandmother had a unique name that she learned the story behind the Ob.

"Basically, it all came from my oldest cousin Lauren. When our grandmom would come over, our aunt would sit her in front of the window and say 'Oh boy, oh boy, grandma is coming,' Harmon said. "She couldn't quite say grandma yet, so she just started saying 'Oh b-, oh b-.'"

The nickname was then passed onto the other five grandchildren. As the youngest, Harmon said she missed the explanation and just grew up with Ob. Klaus took to the name immediately, even going as far to use it outside of the family context. Harmon said all of her friends grew up knowing her as Ob as well. Today most still don't know the origin of the name, she said.

"They've heard my dad call her Obi-Wan Kenobi," Harmon said. "I think many of them think that's where it came from."

Sunday, Sept. 13, is National Grandparents Day, though in some Carroll homes it would more appropriately be called National Me Maw and Pop Pop Day, or Teeter and Tot Day. Unlike moms and dads, which have only slight variations in names from family to family, the names for grandparents can change drastically, be it for cultural reasons, family tradition or mere personal preference.

Amanda Heaton, who now lives in Lexington, South Carolina, but grew up in Westminster, said her family also has a nickname born out of pure accident and a child's reptition of phrases.

"I'm one of six, and we would always tell my mom, 'Mom, you're cray,' as in crazy," Heaton said. "One day my daughter came around and started calling her that. Pretty soon it evolved into Crayma."

Heaton said she loves being able to call her mom something that reflects how quirky and fun she is. To her, Crayma fully encompasses what she loves about her mother.

"At first my mom was like 'Oh God, I don't want that,' but it was so her and it was a way to tell about our uniqueness," Heaton said. "It's kind of stuck. She likes it now. She's the only one with that name."

Some Carroll families have embraced cultural nicknames as a way to keep their hertiage alive, from the Swedish Mormor and Morfar, German Oma and Opa, to the Lebanese Jiddee. Others have embrace the nicknames as a way to avoid sounding old or conjuring images of kindly, but elderly women sitting in rocking chairs and knitting.

When Robin Bowman, of Westminster, was growing up, her grandparents had adopted the nicknames Nan Nan and Daddy Ray in an attempt to sound more youthful. She said the whole family called them by those names and they loved them. Now that she has two granddaughters, she's called Maw Maw and her husband is Pop Pop.

For Emily Wyatt's mother, Tina Schofield, the birth of her grandson Riley was a moment to brainstorm alternatives to becoming a grandmom, as she said she was worried the name made her sound too old. To solve the problem, Schofield got together with her friends to come up with ideas for youthful sounding nickname for Riley's grandma.

"She got all of her friends talking, they went through the list. They tried grandma, granny, mimi, gigi and just went through the whole list," Wyatt said.

Because her grandmother was called Ree Ree, built off of her name Elizabeth Marie, a friend recommended Schofield transform Tina into Tee Tee.

Wyatt said Schofield fought the name at first, afraid that Tee Tee sounded too filthy when mispronounced, but has now fully embraced the nickname. Each of Wyatt's children, Riley, Grayson and Caleigh, now know Schofield as Tee Tee.

"Caleigh goes around asking other kids where's your Tee Tee?" Wyatt said. "When people ask if she has a grandma, she says 'No, I have a Tee Tee.' "